


Shibboleth

by notjustmom



Series: Words, Words, Words [88]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Implied First Kiss, Johnlock Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-05
Updated: 2016-01-05
Packaged: 2018-05-12 00:04:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5646706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notjustmom/pseuds/notjustmom
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>shibboleth: noun: SHIB-uh-luth: catchword, slogan</p><p>mid 17th century: from Hebrew šibbōleṯ ‘ear of corn,’ used as a test of nationality by its difficult pronunciation (Judg. 12:6)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shibboleth

His personal shibboleth, "when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth," had served him well in most of his life, in his work with the Yard, especially, but it utterly failed to help him understand how to deal with losing his heart to a certain former Army surgeon.

He had always shut himself off from 'feelings.' The word itself would occasionally erupt from his mouth like a rare curse, much like the word 'friend.' But the moment John Watson invaded the lab that day in January, something close to an emotion burbled to the surface, which in his mind was an impossibility. Yet, there it was. Improbable as it was, he realized he could tolerate another human being and possibly felt something that could become friendship. 

Over the next months, try as he might (though, to be honest he didn't try all that hard) to curb the 'feelings' of friendship, he failed. His experiments in the microwave earned only an eye roll, stepping on the furniture to cross the room no longer garnered even a glance and his screeching on the violin at all hours was patently ignored, unless he deigned to actually play one of his 'friend's' favourite pieces. And then, he was flashed a smile so-he didn't even have a word for it-gloriously warm and in his direction that he felt his heart beat actually skip. Again, the improbable became his reality. He spent several days deep in Mind Palace trying to delete enough hard drive space to fully explore what this meant, again deleting the solar system and anything related to the night sky, save for that one clear night...

He couldn't quite pinpoint the actual moment when the friend feeling turned to something bigger, warmer, tinglier, definitely what most idiots would consider 'love.' But, as improbable as it was, one morning, he found himself staring not into a microscope eyepiece, but into the blown eyes of his best (and only) friend and flatmate just as he was about to kiss him for the very first time.


End file.
